BMW airhead motorcycles

[JWJ]

I'm investigating an airhead for my first motorcycle.

The late 70s/early 80s airheads appear good looking, reliable, and DIY.

If you have any experience, which would you have? Why?


Thanks,

I like my 83, the only tricky part is the carbs. Personally I think the older ones are even cooler, but they are probably not as practical. The liquid cooled ones don't interest me.

[rocky raccoon]

Superb bike. I had a 1980 R100 for years. My input is as follows;

Buy big engine. At least a 750. The biggest available is 1000cc (R100). No BMW will keep up with an oriental rocket but the R750/900/100 will cruise effortlessly and unstressed all day and all night.

Buy 1980 or earlier. There are persistent urban legends about post-1980 quality issues. I can't say for sure but I had NO corrective maintenance in the 8 years I owned mine. Only wear items and preventive maintenance. As with old Harleys and old Mercedes, there will aleays be plenty of parts available.

1981 was the first year for electronic ignition, a maintenance advantage. The 1980 was the transition year with the point setup mounted in the same can that the electronic ignition was in the following year. This made breaker point maintenace very easy. Pull the can off and take it to the workbench. A less than one-beer job. Earlier than 1980 the points had to be replaced or set in place on the bike.

Hope this helps.

[t walgamuth]

I had a 72 r60/5. Wonderful bike, top quality. A mercedes on two wheels.

[Jim H]

I had a 1982 R100RT, full-fairing touring model that was stone reliable during the 10 years and 30,000 miles that I had it. I sold it to a friend who still rides it and last I saw it was approaching 80,000 miles. It only stranded me once, when it was new, after rivets improperly installed in the clutch plate during manufacturing pulled out. I crashed it once and rebuilt it as an R100CS, sportier with only a headlight fairing.

You must check and adjust valve lash at regular intervals. This is very easy to accomplish with feeler gauges and hand tools. A properly-adjusted valve train on an 'airhead' makes a finely-tuned clicking sound. The valve train, particularly the exhaust valves, becomes 'tighter' as it wears, and if it sounds quiet it is too tight, possibly due to a lack of maintenance. If the exhaust valve becomes too tight you can 'burn' a valve. I had no such trouble in 30,000 miles. If a valve or seat does go bad, removing the head is easy since it is conveniently right out there in the open. A bit of machine shop work to replace the valve seats, and back on they go. They can be R&R using hand tools and a good torque wrench...

Carburetors sometimes need to be 'synchronized' (not often, though) so that left/right manifold vacuum is equal at idle and light throttle. This is relatively easy with a set of damped vacuum gauges. I did it a few times by comparing left/right readings using one gauge, but I don't recommend this method...

BMW recommends replacing brake fluid annually, which is simple DIY stuff.

Oil and filter changes are very DIY. The RT and RS models use a cleverly hinged filter so that it can be inserted and removed without removing the fairing!

Air filter change is also DIY, just pop a few spring clips, remove the old, insert the new.

My personal style preferences are the sporty "RS" model that has a very effective fairing with a short windshield, or the "S" or "CS" with the headlight fairing. The "RT" touring model with full fairing and tall windshield was not quite tall enough for me, but then I sit taller than average.

[Angel]

funny,
I dont own an airhead, but I recently aquired my father's R65 and from what I can read, I'd recommend as new a model as you can afford.

1) single rear shock
2) points ? condenser ? the electronic black boxes of that era are too reliable to go back that far
3) More models sold/better junkyardability - there should be more newer models around for parts than older models...
4) Avoid the R65 - its not from many of the same parts bins - its a good bike, but R80/R90/R100's will interchange more easily
5) Dual front disc brakes
6) availability of the R80/100GS models =) =) =)

just my observations.

-John

[catmandoo62]

Originally Posted by Jim H

A properly-adjusted valve train on an 'airhead' makes a finely-tuned clicking sound.

commonly refered to as"sounding like a sewing machine.i had a 78 r100s.best bike i ever had,wish i had it back.

[JWJ]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

One of these is in my future...

[cjlipps]

I currently have 3 airheads and have owned and ridden quite a few more so I will touch on a few of the differences in models and years.
If you are going to ride a lot I would go with 1981 and up. Nikasil cylinder coating instead of iron liners, heads more tolerant of unleaded fuel, upgraded transmission with skeletonized (lighter) clutch, dual disc front brakes; electronic ignition all make a more rider friendly package.

1985 was the beginning of the monoshock on the streetbikes (R80GS had it in 1981) and this is a handling and rear tire removal improvement. Also a different front fork design made it a little quicker steering. The R80s from this era are nice and smooth for comfortable cruising but I like the extra power of the R100 that came back out in 1988.

If you aren't going to ride a lot or are going to ride primarily shorter distances or at a more relaxed pace, it's hard to beat the smaller displacement bikes. The R60/6 from 1974-76 is about as smooth as it gets in an airhead twin and there is a world of parts interchangeability.

The /5 and /6 series have a more classic look that I like but lack some of the "upgrades" I mentioned on the 1981-up models. Of course there are some of these running around with a ton of trouble free miles and the routine maintenance of these bikes is not time consuming or difficult.

The good thing is you almost can't go wrong. (IMO of course) Check out the IBMWR marketplace and educate yourself on prices and models. Wait til winter for the best deals. Look around for a bike needing some TLC and you can save some serious $. For a while my friend and I were posting a notice in a large city newspaper to buy BMW bikes any condition and we picked up around 30 in a couple of years, some for as low as $150. Some I parted out, some I got running and sold complete.

Good luck. Keep us posted and if I think of anything else that might be helpful I'll post it.